At the Core
by Lady Ayme
Summary: Fantasy AU - When Alfred and Matthew set off on their journey to discover what the world may have to offer them, they had no idea what they would end up facing along the way. Alfred's okay with this. Matthew? Not so much.
1. Why Do I Listen to You?

Author's notes: This is my first foray into writing fanfiction. I'm not sure how long this fantasy-ish AU might end up being by the end, but either way I hope to have updates at least once a week. Personality discrepancies from canon are in part because this is an AU (so the characters haven't had the same experiences as their canon counterparts) and in part because of author error (to put it bluntly but honestly). More at the bottom after the chapter.

Warnings for this chapter: None that I can think of.

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Hetalia. I make no money off of this.

* * *

Chapter 1 : Why Do I Let You Talk Me Into These Things...?

"'Let's travel the world, Matt! We'll be like explorers and go on epic adventures, bro! We can be HEROES!' I still don't understand why I went along with your stupid idea, Al... We've been walking for days with no signs of life save a little wildlife and plantlife, and we're running low on supplies! We've barely even been able to find any work in the last three towns we _have_ come across, and we've only lasted as long as we have because we helped that group of travelers we lucked upon last week. I really don't..."

Unfortunately for the young blond man who continued to rant, his words fell on deaf ears as the one he was ranting to had years ago learned how to tune him out and was taking advantage of that ability right now. Alfred, the younger of the twins ("But only by a few hours, so it's not like it really matters. I'm still the more awesome of the two of us anyway," he'll be the first, and only, to emphasize every time it's brought up much to Matthew's chagrin.), looked down the two paths they were currently trying to decide between, completely ignoring his brother to instead daydream about what might happen if they went down each one.

Okay, granted, they hadn't had much luck with finding any grand adventures awaiting them when they'd chosen to leave their small town, and, really, they weren't having much luck finding work in general either, _but _he was _certain _that they'd find something exciting if they just kept on moving forward and not give up. What kind of hero would give up so easily just because of a few set backs anyway? Alfred had always been the more naive of the two of them, he _knew _that, but he just couldn't help what he wanted for himself. Maybe he was selfish too. He just didn't want to give up on the chance to be a hero and save people...and maybe a damsel in distress as well. Stories of warriors and knights and kings who risked their lives to help the helpless and defend the defenseless were the kinds of stories he'd always loved to hear ever since he was old enough to remember them, and as he grew up he wanted to be just like the men in those stories.

His brother on the other hand was the more pessimistic of the pair, though he'd be the first to correct that by saying he's the far more _realistic _of the two of them. Matthew, though he had his scatterbrained moments, also had far more foresight than Alfred and took it upon himself to at least try and keep some order to their little "quest;" he kept track of their supplies and money and finding and remembering what work they were to do when they could find any. His brother didn't really listen to him sometimes though, so all of his work would often enough end up being at least somewhat for naught.

Matthew had initially been reluctant to even humor the other's idea to set off and see what the world might have to offer them, knowing quite well that the idealistic Alfred probably had no idea what would really most likely await them if they tried to set foot outside of their home town to embark on such a journey (Matthew could admit that he didn't really know either, but he knew better than to say that outloud.). It had taken a few months of what basically boiled down to begging, pleading, and nagging – mostly the latter – on Alfred's part to leave Matthew fed up enough to finally break down with an, "ALL RIGHT! FINE! We'll do it! But only after the winter season breaks. For the love of... Al, I don't know why you think this is a good idea, but...," and Alfred had put that selective hearing ability of his to good use then though of course was ecstatic that his brother had finally (FINALLY) agreed.

Over the following months as the twins had helped their parents harvest the fields and garden, take care of the animals, and prepare their home for the upcoming winter they also prepared themselves for leaving their home once spring came. Matthew, while he didn't particularly want to leave the place where he'd spent his whole (admittedly young) life and could have easily found a job and likely a family within – enough people knew him and found him to be quite nice and helpful though also a little forgetful, both on his own due to bouts of unwanted absentmindedness but also because he tended to be easily overshadowed by his much more assertive brother – he couldn't help the moments when he'd wonder what might possibly reside beyond the land that surrounded their little village. He'd then usually shake his head to try and rid himself of the thoughts and blame Alfred for being too much of a bad influence on him sometimes. Such fanciful thoughts would likely do him little good in the end, plus one of the two of them had to keep his head about him if they were going to be leaving everything they knew behind them soon. He'd likely have to keep track of what Alfred decided to take with him for that matter, he reminded himself in annoyance.

Alfred in the meantime, while he prepared his own things to take with him, was far more focused on what he thought might await them. Would they find a town in need of a hero to help defend it from a heartless band of thieves? Would they come across a stranded princess in need of escort to her home? Would they meet a knight in need of a couple of strong, able young men to help him on his crusade? With each thought he focused less and less on preparing and more and more on daydreaming about his possible future. Matthew could pack for him anyway.

Once spring came around and they – mostly Matthew really, who knew it would end up like that anyway – had everything the two of them could think to bring with them, they bid goodbye to their parents. They'd been reluctant to see their two dear sons leave the safety of their home, but they thought that a few months, maybe years, of traveling would do both of them some good. Alfred could use more exposure to how the world really worked as he still, even at the age of nineteen, thought that what happened in the stories he'd been told since he was a child was how things commonly happened, and Matthew could use something to bring him more out of his normally passive shell.

Their first couple of weeks on the road had been uneventful, which left Alfred a little disheartened but nonetheless ready to keep going and Matthew just annoyed since he figured this is what it would be like for the most part even before they'd left. At least he was somewhat appeased since he liked being outdoors just as much if not even more so than his brother. Matthew couldn't believe he'd apparently forgotten to bring a map with them though ("As much as I had prepared HOW did I forget a MAP?" had been said so many times Alfred had stopped even teasing him about it.), but he could faintly remember that there was supposed to be a town not too much further down the road they were currently on. At least the swords they both carried and the bow he had brought with him came in handy while hunting for food and hadn't been needed to defend them from anyone or anything yet.

Luckily for them there _was _a small village within two more days' travel, and they were able to restock their combined supplies. Matthew took it upon himself to obtain a map of the surrounding area at the same time and ask around if there was any work a couple of wandering young men could help with in order to make up at least some of the money spent while doing so. Unluckily for them there wasn't much the villagers had to offer other than some woodworking, maintenance work, and animals that needing tending to. Matthew politely said that such jobs were just fine with them since they were used to that back in their home town. It didn't hurt that they were both a bit stronger than the average young man so found such work easier than most would. The older of the brothers was just happy to find a way to replenish their funds either way. They stayed in that village for a few days, helping out when and where they could, but once they'd stocked up on what Matthew thought should last them until at least the next town they decided to move on.

They continued on like that for the next couple of months, traveling from village to village with little happening save finding enough work to keep their money pouches full enough to keep them going and restocking on food, clothes, and other supplies when necessary. By the time summer was approaching both brothers were starting to feel like maybe they hadn't thought this through as much as they should have. They were reaching the edge of the map Matthew had been able to acquire as well.

Not really knowing which way to go once they'd reached a fork in the road that unfortunately wasn't on the old map – Alfred being of little help in saying they should just pick a path and head down it – the brothers eventually decided to stop for the day and hope that someone would come along soon who could tell them what lay down each road. Matthew doubted anyone would though, thus that was part of what he was currently complaining about to his audience of one who wasn't even paying attention to him. Not that that stopped him.

* * *

No one had passed by even by the time they'd finished breakfast the following morning though, much to an unsurprised but still disappointed Matthew's dismay.

"Well, we might as well go with my idea anyway now and just pick a road," Alfred was quick to say when it looked like no one was going to pass by that afternoon either.

Matthew sighed as he once more checked how much food and water they had left after their small lunch and tried to estimate how long what was left might last them. "I think it would be wise to maybe wait one more day just in case anyone happens to pass through though. I don't really like the look of either path. I'd like to have at least the slightest inkling of what we're going to be facing down both before having to choose."

The road that wove north-northeast looked like it headed towards the mountain range he could see in the distance with peaks white with snow. He knew they didn't have the supplies necessary to make it through those mountains. They only had their light coats and a blanket each for one thing, though at least their mid-calf-high boots and leather gloves would be decent for any climbing they might have to do. The path south-southeastward lead into a thick forest in which he had no idea what might reside though likely would be the better choice from what he could tell. They'd likely have plenty of wildlife to hunt for food that way anyway.

"If we don't decide soon, we're not going to make it far either way before the sun sets. I know neither of us wants to try traveling when it's dark." Alfred didn't need to mention that his own reason for not wanting to do so was mainly because he still had the tendency to let the ghost stories he'd heard over the years get the best of him when it was dark and he was particularly nervous.

Matthew couldn't help another sigh from escaping him. "I know, I know... I wonder if it would be better to try and backtrack to that last village or maybe find another one though. Do we really want to risk going either way when we have no idea what might be waiting for us?" As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted saying them, knowing what his brother's reaction would likely be.

"Are you kidding? That's exactly the reason we decided to go on this adventure! Not knowing what tomorrow brings. Making our way down unknown paths to an unknown but amazing future. Who knows what we might find if we keep going! We could face a hideous beast that would sooner kill us and is terrorizing all of the people who come near it, or we could..."

Yep. Totally regretted it. At least he had the ability to tune out his brother just as easily himself.

* * *

So this is more of a prologue than a chapter I suppose, since it basically just sets up where the boys currently are. The story may move a little slowly at first, but I hope some people may still enjoy it. No pairings for awhile, and just a forewarning but AmeriCan will not be one of them (Sorry, fans of that pairing.). Next chapter should be up within the next week.


	2. Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo

Author's notes: So Chapter 2's up. Chapter 3 should be along in the next few days. Can't think of anything else to add at the moment...

Warnings for this chapter: None that I can think of other than a little blood?

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Hetalia. I make no money off of this.

* * *

Chapter 2 : Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo...

They bickered long enough that enough time passed to make deciding to go either way a likely unwise choice until morning, so they settled in for another night in their current camping spot. Two equally small meals and a night of somewhat restless sleep left the twins not feeling all that peppy and agreeable the following morning, but they had at least agreed that they needed to move on from their current spot.

So back to debating on which way to go...

"Al, I think it would be best to go through the forest. We'll likely have a far better chance at least of finding food and water going that way, even if we may face a much higher chance of being attacked by something. We'd be more protected from the weather too under all of that foliage; with the increasing heat the shade would be welcomed. Not to mention I doubt we'd be able to make it through those mountains with our current supplies anyway."

Alfred looked like he was weighing Matthew's words while looking back and forth between their two choices. He understood the logic in what his brother was saying and had often enough listened to him when they'd had to make similar choices in their journey so far, but he'd never been over a mountain range yet and likely wouldn't get the chance to try again for a long time. He could only imagine what it might be like on the other side of them. The usually loud self-proclaimed hero(-in-training) stayed oddly quiet for a while.

Matthew found his brother's silent contemplativeness a little off-putting since he wasn't really used to it, but he was glad the slightly younger blond seemed to be taking this seriously. When that sky blue gaze turned back his way to meet his own indigo one a little hesitantly he knew his brother had made his decision but was reluctant to agree with him. He had the feeling it wasn't just because Alfred didn't want to agree with him out of principle though.

"Yeah..., you're right. We should head through the forest. I really want to know what might be beyond those mountains, but I guess we can save that for another time." He still seemed a little saddened by having to make a choice like that again, but he was smiling once more by the end anyway. They could always come back this way another time, and he was hungry as it was.

The elder twin offered the other a small smile in return before checking their packs over one last time then moving to head down the southeastern route.

Alfred shouldered his bag and gave the far off mountain range one last look before following after Matthew. He was really starting to dislike forks in the road.

* * *

The first few hours spent traveling were thankfully uneventful threat-wise, and Matthew was equally thankful that the path clearly continued on for at least as far as he could see. He'd been worried it would start tapering off once they'd reached the trees, but he knew it could still do that the further they went in. The forested area seemed just like any other woods that they'd been through before though, so he figured hunting would at least be somewhat similar, which they would need to try for lunch soon.

Alfred's growling stomach agreed with him, though by the sound of it had been for several hours already. "Maaatt, let's start looking for anything to eat, okay? Those last bunch of meals haven't been nearly big enough. Let's catch us a bear or something!"

Matthew gave his brother a sidelong stare. "Right... A bear..." Despite the sarcastic tone, knowing his brother, he didn't doubt that Alfred would take on a bear if he was hungry enough...and might actually win with that idiot strength of his and the shear amount of stubbornness he possessed, especially whenever he was fixated on something. He looked around them for any signs of something that would be far more likely to be their next meal. With no visible signs in sight though, he walked off of the path to start searching through the bushes for any tracks he could follow, Alfred following after him so they wouldn't end up separated.

The only signs of wildlife they found after almost an hour of searching though were what looked like a few rabbit tracks but no signs of any actual rabbits. Matthew knew his brother never liked eating them since he'd been oddly able to quickly befriend them like they'd always been his pets since the two of them were little kids, but they needed to find _something _to eat soon. He continued his search, but his eyes were starting to hurt from focusing too much on such small signs, and he rubbed at them tiredly. Trying to look at small things for extended periods of time had during the past couple of years slowly become harder and harder for him to focus on, but he was the better tracker between the two of them, even if Alfred was the better hunter, and he had to keep trying.

The younger of the twins eventually could tell that something was wrong with his brother and stepped closer to him. "It's your eyes again, isn't it? I could try tracking for awhile. You could take a break for a bit."

"You know yours are just as bad," Matthew conceded as he kept looking.

Alfred's face scrunched up in displeasure, but he pressed on. "That's only stuff far away, and it hasn't been that way for long! You need to take a break."

"Don't be so loud... And I know it's only far away things; that's why I'M the one who can use the bow, even though I'll admit you've always been the better shot...at least until recently anyway. I don't want to see you take someone out with an arrow while trying to aim for something several feet in a different direction–"

"Hey!"

"–from them, but we need to find something to eat soon or–"

Matthew cut himself off this time when he heard a noise coming from not too far ahead of them beyond a couple of trees and some dense, tall bushes. Holding out his arm to keep his younger brother still and quiet, the elder blond cautiously and quietly brought out his bow and an arrow and readied it in case it would be needed quickly. Hopefully this would be something they could eat. The faint sound of Alfred unsheathing his sword was his brother's only response.

Slowly making his way to the bushes, he raised the bow as he slid through them as quietly as he could, knowing that Alfred would be ready to back him up if something came too near. As he prepared to fire though what caught his eye was what seemed to have made the sound from before, and the sight made him lower his bow.

"Did it get away?" Alfred asked in a soft voice as he lowered his sword a little upon seeing his brother lower his own weapon.

"No... I don't think it could even if it wanted to..."

"Huh?"

Matthew returned his bow to its holster on the pack on his back and the arrow to the quiver along the other side of the bag before pointing ahead of them, "Look."

A white bear cub about the size of a middle-sized dog lay before them, its back right leg stuck in what appeared to be a metal jaw-like trap. It was still alive but barely moving, and both boys wondered why it wasn't crying out. Maybe it had given up on anyone or anything hearing it. At least it had moved enough to grab their attention.

Slowly moving towards the little bear in hopes of not startling it and maybe ending up mauled even by such an apparently weakened creature, Matthew knelt down close enough to it to see if he could make out any other possible injuries and to try and remove the trap. Alfred sheathed his sword and walked over to kneel on the other side of the cub and waited to see what his brother wanted to do since he was better at these kinds of delicate situations.

"Al, if I hold onto this little guy's leg, can you pry open the trap?"

"How do you know it's a guy?"

Matthew gave him a half-hearted glare at his brother commenting on probably the _least _important topic at the moment.

A lopsided grin was what Alfred gave him in return. "Okay, okay. It'll be no problem for a hero like me to remove it! Just...try and make sure he doesn't try and kill us." He laughed, but it sounded the slightest bit strained.

"All right." Matthew tried to keep his weight on the lower half of the cub without squashing it while trying to keep the leg still. The bear struggled a bit but soon gave up, seemingly too low on energy to care to try and get away from the strange humans.

Alfred waited until the bear stopped moving before grabbing hold of both sides of the trap and pulling them apart slowly. The blood still seeping from the half-dried wound started flowing anew with the release of pressure on the area, and the stronger of the two young men was quick to use that strength of his to keep pulling the trap open and then away from the animal so his brother could see to the injury. Once the bear was free of the contraption, Alfred kept pulling the trap open far enough to eventually break the parts with teeth off of the base and tossed them aside.

Matthew moved himself off of the cub and, once he saw that the creature was remaining still even though it was now free of the trap, removed his pack to pull out one of his shirts, which he tore into strips to wrap around the bear's leg to try and help stop the bleeding. "This should hopefully do for a little while," he said as he tied off the last bit of useable cloth before wiping his hands off with the little bit of remaining fabric. "We'll need to find a lake or stream or something soon so we can wash out the wound though. We can try some of the ointment we have once it's cleaned up better and use the gauze then. Maybe we'll find some fish for all of us then too."

The more energetic of the twins was happy to see the little animal out of the trap, but he was even more happy at the prospect of food at this point. "Fresh fish sounds great! We haven't had that in a couple of weeks." He looked down at their new traveling companion. "Do you want me to carry him?"

Taking out a little of what was left of his bit of dried meat from his bag, Matthew set it in front of the bear's head to see if it would eat it. The cub sniffed for a moment before lifting its head enough to move it forward to grab the meat in its teeth then chew on the bit of food slowly. Both boys were relieved to see that it still had the energy to eat.

Shouldering his pack again as the bear finished its snack, Matthew bent down to pick up the cub but paused, not sure which way would be best to do so, especially with the leg injury. They didn't really have the right supplies to make something to carry it on or in – not that he thought even the weakened creature would stay on or in anything like that, especially if it would move without its consent – but he needed a way that would keep the jaws in a position less likely to reach any part of him if by chance the bear mustered up the energy to let known its displeasure with its current situation.

Alfred crouched down too, wondering what his brother was thinking, and repeated himself, "You want me to carry him? You can keep an eye out for signs of water even though you really should let me lead. I can totally find us a big lake or a river or something in no time."

His brother's hero-complex and always wanting to be the leader aside, which he'd been dealing with for as long as he could remember, Matthew thought that Alfred looking for water wouldn't be a bad idea even with his poor long-range sight. He pushed back some of his shoulder-length, wavy, blond hair behind his ears in a nervous habit and decided that he'd just have to carry the cub under its arms for now despite that leaving the leg injury as a low point in the body which would likely increase the blood flow to the wound. The position would make it a little easier to carry it and still keep an eye on his surroundings while keeping the bear in a position where it would be harder for it to bite him. "Hey, Al, why don't you climb one of the trees around here and see if you can see anything. I'll wait down here with the little guy."

"Okay! Let me just see which tree would be best." Pleased to feel like the one taking the lead, even if it might not be for very long before they fell back into equal roles, Alfred looked around them for the likeliest spot for the best vantage point. Spotting a particularly tall tree with sturdy-looking branches even close to the top, he set his pack down against the trunk and started making his way up.

He was starting to enjoy the climb and didn't care if he looked like a monkey swinging his way up to the higher branches, but his grip slipped on one of the limbs about three-fourths of the way up and he nearly gave both of them a heart attack when he came close to falling. Thankfully he was able to grab onto one of the branches below it and hang on long enough to regain his bearings. After pulling himself back up he started the last leg of the climb though came to a stop when he saw a nearly-bare, half-dead patch of branches caused by some bagworm nests that he hadn't noticed from the ground. He knew they wouldn't hold him. Looking out through the openings in the branches as best he could, all he could see in every direction was green and brown and blue, '_Wait... Blue?'_ "Ah! Over there! I see a...lake? I think it's a lake anyway. I don't think it could be more than a half hour or so from here." He squinted his eyes further in an attempt to try and make out anything else. "I think the path might follow along one side of it, but...I'm not sure. It looks like there's a big open area with not very many trees though along one side. Let's head back to the path and see if it heads that way."

Matthew was thankful that water seemed so close. "Yeah, let's backtrack to the trail and keep following it. If it's as big as you make it sound, it will likely have fish in it too. We can do some fishing and cook them up for an early dinner." The thought of fresh food sounded really good to him as well. They'd been making due with their mostly dried pack food for a few days now. A bath actually sounded really nice too, even if the water might still be a bit cold as summer was just around the corner.

Making his way back down – and Matthew was grateful that he didn't slip again; he really didn't want to deal with having a heart attack or his brother breaking his neck or anything else of either sort, thank you very much – Alfred brushed himself off before picking up his pack again and waiting on the slightly older blond to decide on what to do with the cub.

Bending down near the little bear again, Matthew circled his arms under the animal's and picked it up slowly, settling the creature against his chest. It didn't seem all that pleased with being held and struggled for a long moment, but some placating words from Matthew seemed to calm it down enough to let itself be carried.

Surprised, though he shouldn't have been, that the bear didn't seem to be any sort of burden to the other (He knew his brother was also a bit abnormally strong when compared to everyone else they knew, he just often forgot about it.), Alfred grinned and started to head back the way they'd come knowing Matthew was right behind him. He was still hungry, but they'd likely be having freshly cooked fish to eat soon, not to mention that he could go swimming in that lake or pond or whatever he'd seen. Their clothes could do with a bit of washing as well he could admit. His last shirt he'd been wearing almost made crackling sounds when he was folding it up to stuff in his pack... Yep, washing sounded like a good idea. "Come oooon, water."


	3. Thanks for Dinner

Author's notes: Slowly adding in more characters. More will appear in the next chapter...sort of...

Warnings for this chapter: None that I can think of.

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Hetalia. I make no money off of this.

* * *

Chapter 3 : Thanks for Dinner

Not too long later the trio found themselves alongside a rather large lake that most would likely prefer to use a boat to cross instead of swim, it was so large. From what Alfred could tell now that they were closer it was shaped sort of like a boot, and they were currently standing on the side that led down to what would be the curve of the foot. The path followed the shape of that side of the lake before curving off away from the "toes" area and back into the trees. He figured it would be a pretty good camping and fishing spot, the latter especially with the large flat boulder he could see at the edge of the water in the outcropping area of the shoreline at the corner.

Walking down to that corner area of the path and down onto the grass, Matthew set down the little bear, who seemed strangely content enough to just lay there in the grass for now, close to the water before setting down his pack and digging out the bowl he kept on him. He walked over the small patch of plant-free shore and bent down to fill the bowl with water before returning and setting it down near the cub. Digging around in his pack again, he brought out his washcloth, towel, and cup. Filling the cup a few times with water, he used it to wash away what he could from the wound after having removed the makeshift bandage. He then used the washcloth once wet to wipe away what was still caked on due to the dried blood.

In the meantime Alfred had set down his own pack and went to stand out on the flat rock to see if he could make out anything in the water. Catching the familiar and welcomed sight of the afternoon sunlight dancing off of scales beneath the surface, he headed back over to his pack and starting digging through it for his fishing line and hook. Once found, he stood back up and looked over at Matthew, "I'm going to go look for a good branch for a pole and gather some firewood. Set up the pit while I'm gone, okay?" With that he headed off.

"Once I finish this up, I will." After several minutes of carefully cleaning the injury from the trap, Matthew found that the wound itself wasn't as bad as he had initially thought it might be; most of it was the individual spots where the trap's teeth had pierced the skin, and it didn't look infected. The little animal was oddly calm through the whole ordeal, but he figured that was because it was weakened and hungry. Once he'd cleaned away the wound and dried it off with his towel, he pulled out the jar of healing ointment and the gauze he kept (mostly due to Alfred's tendency to end up hurt whenever he was being particularly reckless) and applied some of the medicine to the bear's leg before wrapping it up with the cloth. He didn't know if the cream-like substance meant for humans would work on an animal, but it was worth a shot, especially since he had no idea how far away from a town they might be. "...Now that I think about it, I wonder if it would be wise to try and take you into a populated area. You've been docile enough with the two of us, but I wonder what you'll be like once you're better." At least for now it was still easy enough to hold onto...

The little white cub managed to push itself up into a sitting position and just stared at Matthew for a moment. The boy stared back at it, a little unnerved since it almost seemed like the bear had understood him and was trying to tell him something.

Before either could do or say anything though – and picturing the bear talking made the still slightly unsettled Matthew want to giggle a little hysterically but he held it in – Alfred returned with an large armful of firewood and a particularly big limb that would serve as a fishing pole.

The younger twin set down his load of wood near the other two and went about knotting the end of his fishing line towards the thinner end of his make-shift pole then making sure the knot was tight and the hook was still tied to the line securely. Knowing that Matthew would be starting on the fire soon, he grabbed the cup his brother had been using and set back out to look for anything he could use for bait, humming a little tune to himself as he went.

He soon came across a particularly big rock and upon upturning it was pleased to find several worms squirming their way around under it to try and find somewhere else dark and moist to hide. He grabbed a few of them, placed them in the cup, and headed back to camp, the tune from before now a little louder and happier-sounding. Picking up his pole, he headed back out onto the rock and sat down, setting a worm up on the hook and casting out the line. While he waited for something to hopefully bite soon he called back to Matthew, "So how's he doing? Is the leg injury that bad?"

Dumping out the bloody water from his bowl, Matthew reminded himself to wash it and his washcloth and towel after seeing to the fire. "Actually it's not as bad as I thought it'd be. Looks like it's mostly the points where the trap's teeth pierced the skin except for the areas that were in the center of the trap; those are a bit deeper and wider. I think the leg should be fine though once the wound closes. It's mostly a matter of keeping it from ending up infected." Standing up and dusting his pants off, the elder twin cast his gaze around to see if there were any good rocks to use for the pit or a particularly bare area that he could use for one. Not finding anything that would work for the former, he just decided to set up the fire on the bare dirt of the shoreline between the water and the grass. He was glad the nights were steadily becoming warmer so they could sleep on the grass and not the bare dirt and still be warm enough from the nearby fire and the late-spring weather. Gathering some of the wood, he set about building some of it into a nice pile before using some of the longer grass and smaller limbs as kindling that he lit with his flint. Once it had caught and was crackling away merrily, Matthew walked back over to their packs and dug out their pan to use whenever Alfred managed to catch anything.

"That's great! So are we going to keep him at least until then? Having a bear for a pet would be kind of awesome, especially one that's such a weird color." Fiddling around with his pole, Alfred tried to keep himself from kicking his feet and possibly scaring away any fish. He could play in the water once they'd eaten.

Matthew saw the cub turn its head to look at Alfred while he spoke but thought nothing of it since Alfred was being his usual rather loud self. While he waited for any fish to prepare, he brought his bowl, towel, and washcloth over to the edge of the water and began washing them. "He's not a _pet_. We can keep him with us until his leg's better, but then we'll need to find a good place to release him back into the wild. I don't think it would be wise to bring a _bear _with us into populated areas, despite him having been perfectly fine with us so far. I imagine that's just because he's weak, injured, and hungry anyway." He rung out his towel and washcloth and set them out on the flat fishing rock to start drying.

Alfred's face scrunched up in displeasure again. "Boooo. Come on! Having a bear for a '_companion_' then would be awesome, and you know it. It could help us fight bad guys and stuff! I mean, how many people would take on a _bear_? And he's still a cub, so who knows how big he might get. Since he's such an odd color he might even grow bigger than any other bear out there! We don't know. And I'm sure he'll be perfectly fine with other people. He already seems used to US, and he hasn't even known us for that long. You're such a spoilsport sometimes, Matt. "

The elder of the two just sighed and went about making a drying rack of sorts with some of the longer and bigger branches Alfred had brought back before digging out and washing the rest of their clothes that needed it. "Yes, yes, so you've said countless times since we were kids. We can't _both _be hardheaded, reckless adventurers like you, Al." He ignored the disapproving, annoyed sound his younger brother made and continued washing and hanging their clothes to dry. "And the fact that he's still a cub is part of the potential problem. He's easy enough to carry _now_, but what about as he grows older? It's true we don't know how big he might get, but what if he gets too big to hold back and _does _go after people, especially innocent people? He's a wild animal, not something we can _tame_. I'll be happy to look after him until his leg's better, but we'll have to let him go after that."

Alfred pouted as he kept part of his attention on his line in the water. "Mmmnnn... Why do you always have to be all..._logical _all of the time? I still think he'd be great to keep with us. He could help tell us apart from other groups of heroes or something. Like...the Bear Brothers or something. It'd be awesome!"

Rubbing at his temple to try and stave off the on-coming headache, Matthew rung out one of his brother's shirts and went to hang it up, remembering to grab his towel and washcloth from the rock to hang up as well. "That's...completely idiotic. I wouldn't want to be called that anyway, not to mention it doesn't make much sense. I mean, we don't even look like bears in the least ourselves. People hear that and they'll likely expect a couple of big, burly, hairy old men or something."

"HAHAHAH! But that's part of the brilliance of it, bro! People will be expecting _that_, and we'll completely catch them off-guard, and they'll underestimate us. Really it's – whoa, a bite!" He fought with whatever was on the line a little, but he soon pulled out a large, brown-grey fish bigger than his head. "Yes! This meal with be the best we've had in a while if they're all _this _ big!" He unhooked the fish and, using the knife he kept at his waist, made the first cuts into it to kill it quickly and also so Matthew could start preparing it. "If they're all this big, how many should I catch? A couple each?"

Pausing in finishing the washing, the other blond walked over to take the first fish to start on dinner. "Sounds good for now. We can catch more later if we're still hungry. He probably shouldn't eat too much himself if he hasn't had much to eat in awhile. Might make himself sick otherwise." Taking the fish over to the fire so he could gut and debone it and remove the head, fins, and scales with his own knife before cooking it, Matthew spared a glance at the bear again before sitting down to work. They'd been referring to it as male, but he still wasn't sure himself. He supposed at least for the moment it didn't matter either way though.

As his twin prepared and started cooking the first catch Alfred pulled out and brought over the rest when he caught them, though they kept two whole to give to the cub once they would start eating themselves. He kept an eye on his brother while the elder blond cooked but worked on finishing the last few articles of clothing that still needed washed and hung up in the meantime.

When Matthew had deemed the last of the fish cooked both brothers sat down on opposite sides of the fire with their plates of food and started in on their meals. Before Matthew began on his own though he set down one of the uncooked fish in front of the bear in hopes that it would eat it before sitting back down to eat his own.

Alfred seemed quite pleased with his meal even if fish wasn't among his favorite kinds of meat. Pity he couldn't normally express that pleasure when he ate without doing so with a mouthful of whatever he was eating... "Mmmm, sish is _reaf_! Piffy we dun haff anyshin a fo wish if."

Used to this but nonetheless still annoyed and slightly appalled with his brother's eating habits, Matthew was just glad he was sitting far enough away to not have to worry too much about the slightly younger man spitting food on him. "Would you, _please_, not talk with food in your mouth. It's disgusting."

Swallowing his big bite, Alfred grinned at him. "But it's really good. I mean, I know we don't have anything left to season it with or eat with it really, but it's still pretty good, especially after all we've had for awhile is that dry trail food stuff. Cooked fish is a nice change."

"Could I have mine cooked too?"

"Sure," both boys immediately said before realizing that neither of them would have had a reason to ask the other that. The pair blinked at each other then turned to the side where the voice had come from...and saw nothing but the little white bear. The two stared at it.

"...What? You said it tasted good cooked. Why can't I have mine cooked too?" the cub asked in a quiet voice that sounded somewhat like a slightly bored adolescent boy's.

Alfred and Matthew just continued staring...then screamed.

* * *

So who didn't see that coming? xD; But at least it might not have been quite what was expected of him to say? Anyway... Next chapter should be within the next few days I think.


	4. Traveling Twins

Author's notes: Slightly short chapter, but the next one should make up for it, I think.

Warnings for this chapter: None that I can think of.

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Hetalia. I make no money off of this.

* * *

Chapter 4 : Traveling Twins

"_WHAT THE **HELL**_? It can _TALK_?" Alfred had jumped up at the same time as Matthew and was currently half-hiding behind his slightly older twin on the side of the fire opposite from the cub.

"I-I-I..." Matthew seemed to be a lot more stunned than his brother.

"You know...you two scream like a couple of little girls," the bear said as it sniffed and took a bite of its fish, apparently realizing it wouldn't be trying any cooked or at least not for a little while longer anyway.

The younger blond seemed quite affronted by that. "_Hey_! It's not our fault you scared the crap out of us by _talking_! We've never heard an animal talk before!"

At least Matthew seemed to be calming down, though he still looked rather unsettled. "How long have you been able to talk? Why haven't you said anything before just now?"

Chewing on its (His? The boys were still not completely sure.) mouthful of fish slowly, the animal swallowed before speaking again. "I've always been able to talk. I don't know why you haven't been able to hear or understand me so far. It _is_ kind of weird to actually have humans understand me though I'll admit."

Matthew seemed to be calmed enough to be almost back to normal and looked to be contemplating something. He went back to his spot by the fire before asking what was on his mind. "Can _all_ animals talk like you? Well, wait..." He rubbed at the back of his head a little in embarrassment. "I guess that's a stupid question. Is there any reason why we can understand you now though, since you said no other humans have understood you so far?"

The little bear looked down for a moment in thought before looking back up at them. "I don't know of any. I haven't really had many interactions with humans, but I know it's weird and rare for one of you to understand one of us, so you did surprise me by answering me."

"You hardly looked surprised," Alfred said with a half-glare and a pout as he sat back down too. "You just sat there like you were bored or something."

"Well, it's not like I can really jump up and run away right now..."

Matthew could swear the cub was glaring slightly at his brother, so he decided to try and move the conversation along. "You seem kind of young. How old are you? Do you have a name?"

The white creature's gaze turned back to Matthew. "Name? You mean what you call each other? No, not really. Others just call me 'bear.' And I'm four winters old. I've only lived in this place for one though. I came down from the mountains before the last winter."

Alfred blinked in slight confusion. "Okay. So you're four-years-old then? Is it normal for a bear like you to be that size when you're that old? And you're a weird color too. I've never heard of white bears."

The cub seemed displeased again, likely from being called a "weird color," but decided to answer anyway. "I haven't seen any others like me since I was younger and still with my mom, so I don't really know how big we can get. Mom was really big though, taller than you anyway even when standing on all fours."

Both boys sort of gawked at the animal before them at that. They'd seen brown- and black-colored bears before a few times, but they'd been only big enough to usually reach the village hunters' shoulders when on all fours or _maybe_ a bit taller. The thought of a bear being _that_ much bigger was a bit of a daunting concept.

Alfred quickly recovered and remembered one of his earlier thoughts. "That's _awesome_! You totally have to stick with us and help us out and stuff! A bear that big no one would try to take on unless they were stupid!"

"And suicidal...," Matthew added in softly before shaking his head a little. "Anyway... Well..., you're welcome to stay with us for as long as you want, but you won't try to...attack other people or anything will you?"

The bear played with its fish a little. " I normally don't like being near humans, but I have no reason to hurt them unless they try to hurt me first."

"Is that why you don't mind us?" Matthew asked after a moment's thought. "You came to not see us as a threat?"

With a nod the little bear took another bite of its fish. "I didn't know if you were the ones to set that trap I was caught in, but after you helped me out of it and didn't do anything else I figured you weren't there to hurt me. Though," it took a moment to swallow its bite, "I can't really do much to defend myself right now anyway other than bite. I don't think I can walk on this leg yet..."

Alfred grinned and pointed to himself with his thumb. "You don't have to worry about us hurting you. That'd be completely unheroic to hurt a defenseless animal..., well..., unless we were hunting it anyway, ...and you're not _completely_ defenseless, _but_ you don't have to worry about _that_ at least anyway 'cause we'd never want to eat you now. I mean, you can _talk_, and you're going to get _huge_, and–"

Matthew cut him off before he could dig himself into an even deeper hole. "What he means is that we don't have any reason to hurt you if you don't mean us any harm either, and like I said we wouldn't mind having you along if you want to stick with us, even if it's only until your leg's better. Hopefully we'll come across a town soon where we can find some better medicine for your leg."

"If you have food, I'll stick around. You're not too bad for a human, though your brother's an idiot."

"Hey!"

The bear ignored Alfred this time and continued talking to Matthew. "This medicine stuff will help me?"

The older twin smiled in amusement at how blunt the bear could be – he sort of reminded Matthew of himself at least – and ignored his now loudly complaining and pouting brother. "Yeah, it should help the wound heal quicker and keep it from ending up infected so long as we keep it wrapped up, clean, and dry."

"Okay. Oh, hey, could I still have my other fish cooked? You don't have to do all of that cutting and stuff you did to yours. I'll finish this one as-is."

"Oh, sure. It shouldn't take too long." Matthew set the fish in the pan to cook. While they waited he tried to think of something else to talk about. "What brought you down here? You _do_ sort of stand out around these parts."

"After mom was killed by some hunters I stayed in the mountains for awhile before finding my way down here. At the time it was snowing down here too, so I didn't really think to not come this way, but then the snow melted a lot earlier than I'm used to, and I sort of didn't know what to do. I've been okay so far being able to hunt for fish when I could, but then I got stuck in that trap. Thank you...for finding me and helping me..."

Alfred had stopped his complaining and had been fully listening to the conversation again. "Your mom was killed? That sucks. I'm sorry...," and he was, though his sad look quickly brightened again. "Well, you have us now to be like your brothers! We can look out for each other!"

Matthew smiled a little ruefully at his twin, but he couldn't say he didn't feel the same way. He turned back to the little creature. "I'm sorry that your mother was killed too, and I agree with Al – we can look out for each other...like family. And you're more than welcome. We could hardly have left you in that trap." He gave the little bear a soft smile.

The little white cub didn't know what to say. While he hadn't had much contact with humans like he'd said he was unused to the thought of humans being this nice. Maybe staying with them longer than it would take for his leg to heal...wouldn't be so bad...

* * *

The trio enjoyed their late lunch and spent the rest of the day relaxing by and in the lake. Alfred alone spent nearly three hours splashing around and jumping off of the fishing rock, trying over and over to see how far out he could jump. Matthew was content enough to take his time to bathe and play around a bit in the water before finding a nice spot in the grass to relax on for the rest of the afternoon. They fished some more for dinner and shared stories of where they were from until awhile after sunset. Once they were tired enough they all curled up near each other in the grass not too far from the fire and slept in until almost mid-morning when the sound of a quickly moving cart and yelling voices woke Matthew and the bear.

"Al, wake up." He shook his younger brother to try and help the process along. "Someone's coming. Maybe they know where the nearest town is."

Alfred turned over and away from his twin. "Nnnnn... Five more minutes, Mattie. ...Wait... Someone's coming?" He rolled back over and up into a sitting position to listen for any sounds.

The shouts and the sound of rapidly running hooves were coming closer. Matthew picked the bear up, and the trio quickly headed back up to the path to stop whoever it was for directions before they ran past them, the eldest among them ready to call out to the newcomers before he stopped himself.

Through the trees and down the path the way they'd come shot a cart pulled by what looked like two panicked bulls and driven by a pair of nearly identical brunets who were screaming at the top of their lungs. The trio in the grass could only stare on in confusion-induced silence until they saw what was making the two act like death was on their heels.

At least a dozen wolves sped out of the trees behind the cart and were now coming straight at them.


	5. Could We Get Some Directions, Please?

Author's notes: Longest chapter yet. I don't know if I can keep that up, but we'll see. More characters introduced. Little more of an AN at the bottom.

Warnings for this chapter: None that I can think of other than a little blood and animals being killed and Romano's mouth?

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Hetalia. I make no money off of this.

* * *

Chapter 5 : Could We Get Some Directions, Please?

With a few rather loud curses themselves Alfred and Matthew ran back down to their packs to take up their weapons, the elder twin setting the bear down first, before running back up to the path. Taking careful aim with his bow, Matthew drove home an arrow in one hound's foreleg, making the animal yelp and trip.

Running forward while the other blond readied another shot, Alfred drew his sword and took a swing at the nearest wolf. It dodged him and swung itself around to try and take a bite out of the young man, but Alfred pulled his arm out of the way just in time and decided to take a swing with his fist instead. His punch landed right in the wolf's side, making a sickening cracking sound. The canine went flying, landed near the bushes on the far side of the path, and didn't get back up. Alfred readied his sword again and continued on to the next one.

The pair of brunets who had been driving the cart were able to make the bulls finally pull to a stop on the path once they realized that the people they'd seen were taking on the wolves that had been after them. The elder of the two was ready to make the bulls start back up on their way again now that they weren't being chased, but the younger one was hesitant to just run away from the strangers whom were trying to help them. "Brother, I-I don't really want to fight, but...but those two are trying to help us. We should do something to help them too."

The older twin still looked ready to send the bulls going again but looked hesitant now as well. "Dammit, Feliciano, we just got them off of our tails!" After a moment he finally tossed the reins down. "_Fine_! We'll help, but, if either of us gets hurt, I'm kicking your ass later!" He jumped down off of the wagon and dug around in the back of it, soon pulling out a couple of long metal poles and tossing one to his brother. "Here. And _be careful_!" and he ran off to help the two blonds.

Feliciano fumbled with his staff for a moment before grasping it tightly in both hands and looking to see what he could help with too. The stranger with the shorter hair was nearer to him at the moment, so the younger of the two brunets ran over to try and help him, managing to bash one of the attacking wolves in the head along the way. The animal yelped and ran off into the trees.

Matthew in the meantime had just taken out another wolf with a shot to its stomach. When he had his next arrow ready he heard a different type of growl than the attacking creatures' from behind him. Turning around quickly, he was caught off-guard when he found that four of the wolves had made it past them and were going after the cub. A "_NO_!" was torn from his throat, and his next shot took out one of the attackers. He took off in a run to try and make it back to the bear in time.

The little white animal was defending himself as best as he could, sitting back and as tall as possible while swinging his claws at the wolves and growling and biting at them. Matthew swung his bow and smashed one of the wolves in the head with it, cracking the bow and the dog's skull, before dropping the ruined weapon and pulling out his knife in his right hand. One of the other wolves managed to grab hold of his left forearm as he turned to defend the bear, making the young man cry out before he jammed his knife into the wolf's side twice. The third wolf lunged at Matthew, but the cub intercepted it, forcing himself into a standing position long enough to jump on the other animal and bite its neck in a crushing grip. The wolf bucked once, trying to throw the other off, but quickly fell as the bear crushed its spine in his jaws.

As their numbers started to dwindle too far for their liking the few remaining wolves took off into the trees, not wanting to lose any more of their pack. The five were more than happy to see them go.

Alfred wiped off his sword on one of the dead wolves before sheathing it. "HAH! Yeah, you better run!" He had several scratch marks along his arms, but he had been able to dodge the worst attacks or block them with his weapon.

The two brunets were faring a bit better since they were able to keep the dogs far enough away from them with their own weapons to avoid most attacks. The younger one turned to find where the other blond had gone and cried out at seeing him kneeling on the ground and surrounded by four dead wolves and a small bear. He ran over to them, calling back to his brother as he went. "Romano, I think he's hurt!"

Alfred and Romano turned at Feliciano's shout and ran over to see what had happened. When they reached the other three they found Matthew sitting on the ground, knife laying at his side, and the young man trying to use what was left of his torn sleeve as a bandage for the bite in his arm. The cub was sitting near him, jaws, claws, and leg wrappings a bit bloody but otherwise looking okay.

The brunet brothers paused in seeing if Matthew was all right since they didn't seem to know what to make of the bear, especially since the other two young men seemed to not care it was there.

Once Alfred reached his brother he knelt down beside his twin to try and see what was wrong. "What happened, Matt? Oh, man, one of them got you good in the arm. Let me get the bandages." He ran over to Matthew's pack to dig out the gauze then brought it over to wrap it around the bite wound in his brother's arm.

Matthew would have shrugged him off since he could feel that the wound wasn't quite as bad as the blood made it seem, but he let his brother wrap it up since what was left of his sleeve wasn't really helping much to stop what blood _was _flowing. He was just thankful that everyone seemed to be all right and his arm wound looked to be the worst of the injuries sustained in the fight. "It's not as bad as it looks, Al," he said to try and pacify his brother before looking up at the two behind him. "I don't suppose either of you know of any nearby towns we could get directions to, do you?"

Feliciano jumped in surprise from being drawn out of his thoughts about the odd little animal but quickly answered. "Oh, yes, you should come back to our place! We can take you to Kiku who can help with your injuries, and we can make you something to eat, and Ludwig can help you with weapons since your bow broke, and – "

Romano decided to cut him off and spare them all his twin's rambling. "What my idiot brother means is that we know someone who can help you back home. It's not too much farther down the path. We were on our way back there from buying some inventory for the restaurant when we were attacked. You know the rest. I guess you might as well jump in the cart. It's not like I personally care, but Feliciano and that bastard back in town will throw a fit if we leave you here I'm sure."

"Brother, that's mean. They just saved us from all of those wolves." The younger brunet pouted at his older brother but smiled when he turned back to the two blonds. "Please, don't take Romano seriously when he acts like that. He's just grouchy a lot. He doesn't really mean it."

"I do too! What do you know, stupid brother!"

"See? Anyway... We should get you back to town. Kiku's really good at making medicine and should be able to help you. Is the little bear with you too?" He gave the creature another curious look.

Alfred finished tying the bandage and made sure it was secured tightly before looking back up at the two. "Yeah, he's our friend. You mentioned medicine and food though? And your town isn't that far away? That's great!"

The cub looked like he was going to say something, but Matthew made a shushing motion that only the bear and Romano caught, though the latter didn't question it at the moment and just gave the blond an odd look.

Feliciano and Alfred seemed to have started discussing various foods they both liked, so Matthew and Romano let them for the time being and decided to just converse amongst themselves.

"So what brings you two...three...whatever...to these parts with only the stuff on your backs?" Romano asked Matthew. Whether the disinterest in his voice was genuine or not was hard to tell at the moment.

The older of the two blonds moved over to check on the bear, displeased to see that the leg wound had started bleeding enough to seep through the bandages so quickly. He'd only had to clean and rewrap the wound once the previous evening, and even then the bleeding hadn't been all that bad all things considered. "Ah... We're sort of just...traveling the world I guess. We met this little guy yesterday, caught in a trap. We were going to continue on and hopefully come across a town soon. Rabid pack of wolves aside, it was nice being able to meet you."

Romano raised a brow at him with an odd look on his face. "You have no idea where you're going? Are you two idiots or what?"

That brought the other two back into the conversation. Both looked upset at Romano's choice of words.

"My bro and I aren't idiots!"

"Romano! Why do you have to be so mean to the nice strangers?"

The elder brunet seemed to be growing increasingly impatient with all of them. "Well, they _are _if they're just wandering around with no idea where they're going!"

"Well, we _did _have a map, but the edge of it sort of cut off not too far from here to the west. We've been sort of making our way down the path through this forest since. Anyway... We should probably introduce ourselves. I'm Matthew, and this is my twin brother Alfred."

"He's only older by a couple of hours, so it's not like that matters or anything. I'm still more awesome than him," Alfred was quick to add in.

The two newcomers just stared at him before the younger decided to introduce them. "I'm Feliciano Vargas, and this is my big brother Romano. It's amazing that we're both sets of twins. Isn't that amazing, brother?"

"Yes... Astounding..." He turned and starting walking back to the cart. "Are we going to get moving or what? I'd like to make it back before lunch."

Matthew and Alfred stood and started collecting their things quickly, the elder debating whether or not to take his damaged bow. He decided to bring it with them anyway. It was a reminder of home, and he might be able to have it fixed. Once everything was packed away and Matthew made sure what was left of their fire was put out and the bear had a new bit of gauze wrapped around his leg, they carried their things and the cub over to the cart where the Vargas brothers were moving crates to make room for them.

Romano made sure the last of the inventory was secure before climbing back onto the front of the cart and taking up the reins again. Feliciano in the meantime stowed away their staffs at the front of the back of the vehicle before climbing up beside his brother and turning to their new travel companions. "It will be about another hour 'til we get there, so go ahead and make yourselves comfortable." With that he turned back to his brother, and they soon set off.

With the adrenaline starting to wear off both blonds were glad to have a bit of time to relax again and tried to find comfortable positions in the back of the wagon, though they ended up having to sit with their legs dangling off of the back with the lack of much room otherwise. They leaned back against the crates behind them, the little bear laying down between them, and soon dozed off.

* * *

The next thing the brothers knew the cart jerked to a stop which woke them enough to blink back to consciousness before taking in their surroundings.

They had stopped at the top of a hill, and, turning around to see what had made the other set of twins stop, they saw the largest town they'd come across yet spread out before them. What had to be a few hundred buildings were set evenly around a large center square, most of the nicer and larger though older-looking structures surrounding it. The path they were on led down into the town and the square and kept going on towards another wooded area where what looked like a small castle resided before the trees grew too thick to see further. A road cutting through the town square perpendicular to the one they were on led off one way into the trees outside of that part of the city, and the other led off northwards into mostly-open land and off into what seemed to be rocky territory as far as they could see. Mountain peaks could be made out through the treetops, which the boys figured were a part of the range from yesterday. Alfred was glad that they seemed much closer now. Maybe he'd be able to cross them after all.

The cart started up again after the Vargas brothers seemed to have stopped discussing something that Matthew and Alfred hadn't paid any attention to, too caught up in taking in their new location to notice. They meandered their way down into the square and off to the south and through some of the secondary streets before stopping at and going around to the back of one of the larger two story buildings in the area. The place had some tables set up out front, along both sides, and two up on the balconies on the second floor on the front and back of the structure.

Feliciano was the first to jump down and ran off inside while Romano grumbled about stupid, impatient brothers and needing to unload the cart. The elder brunet jumped down as well and guided the bulls over and into a small structure. He undid the ties keeping them tethered to the cart after they'd pulled the wagon into its usual storage spot and let them head off into a small field out behind the small barn-like building.

Matthew and Alfred slid down from the back of the wagon and wondered what they should do. The elder blond picked up the bear and set him down on a bale of hay that rested against the nearby wall before turning to Romano. "While we'd like to help out with unloading the wagon in thanks for helping us, may we have directions to this Kiku Feliciano mentioned could help us with our injuries? We'd be happy to help out afterwards then."

Romano made sure the bulls were set and the wagon's wheels were locked into place before looking back over at them and thumbing over his shoulder back at the main building with an irritated look on his face. "Feliciano should be back shortly. Likely went to tell that bastard and Al that we're back. He can show you the way. I'm going to deal with this stuff before it gets any later. I'm hungry and tired, and it's not even noon. I've had my fair share of excitement and all today, thanks." And with that he picked up the first crate from the cart and headed off towards the other building, apparently leaving Matthew, Alfred, and the little bear to wait until Feliciano came back out.

Alfred set down their packs against the wall and turned to his brother. "Wonder how bad this 'bastard' he keeps referring to really is, but he called someone in there 'Al!' That's awesome! I _so _gotta go meet them as soon as we're done seeing this Kiku person. Sounds kind of girly for a name. I wonder what she looks like. Sounds like a cute little brunette or something. Maybe she'll..."

Matthew had mostly tuned out his brother by this point as he checked on his bandage and the cub's.

It thankfully wasn't long before the younger Vargas came back out, though the brunet looked upset but put on a smile when he noticed that the three were looking at him. "Brother said you wanted me to show you to Kiku's? That's not too far. Follow me!" He headed back outside and out front before setting off down the street they were on and off to a part of town farther from the center. "I can show you to Ludwig's afterwards, or we can head back home and have some lunch first if you want. Either way it will then almost be time for siesta, which will be nice after that scare and the fighting earlier. Then I can show you around other parts of town, and we can find you somewhere to stay if you're going to be staying in town for a while. Big sister Eliza and Roderich have the best inn around, and they should have a room or two free. You should stay there. I don't think they'll have a problem with your bear. Well..., Roderich might, but Eliza should be able to persuade him. She's good at that. He's really actually nicer than he lets on though, especially if you mention how nice his music is. It really _is_ good though, so it's not like it's a stretch to say it. He plays the piano and..."

The trio following him were left rather speechless at how much the young brunet could talk and just nodded when they thought they should, though they were mindful of the other young man's hands which didn't remain still the entire time.

* * *

It didn't take too long for them to reach a moderately-sized, three story building that seemed to be split into two separate ones, though once they entered the door on the left they could see that it had been more or less turned back into one building. Most of the wall along the center of the first floor had been taken out and replaced with strong pillars that left both sides open to whoever was inside, though the two sides differed in what they held. The side they had not come in on was lined with many shelves with hundreds of books taking up most of the space on them. Several more shelves were set in rows away from the walls along with some tables, chairs, and a few couches. A large desk rested against the far back wall behind which were two doorways, the one on the left covered in a beaded curtain. The side they had entered had many shelves as well, but these held various bottles and other containers for the most part, and several plants were lined up along the side where most of the wall was windows. At the far back was another desk and set of two doorways, the one on the right covered by a cloth.

Matthew and Alfred stared a bit in awe at all of the unfamiliar things around them. They wanted to wander and take closer looks at everything but realized they needed to have Matthew's arm and the bear's leg seen to first.

Feliciano headed off towards the desk on the left and called back through the doorways. "Ve~, Kiku~, are you here~? I have some new friends who need your help."

Alfred and Matthew wandered up behind the brunet and waited to see if his friend would come out from the back if he or she was even there.

They didn't have to wait long before a petite person with straight black hair that rested just below their ears came out with a wavy-haired brunet man following behind. The former was dressed in what sort of looked like a dark blue dress with a large white sash tied around their waist and large sleeves while the latter was dressed in a simple white shirt and dark brown pants and boots.

The shorter person looked at the young man who'd called them out. "Feliciano-kun, what is it that you need? Is anyone hurt?"

Alfred blinked and pointed a finger at the newcomer who'd spoken. "Whoa. Was not expecting that deep of a voice out of such a small body. Wait... Are you Kiku? Whoa! You're a _guy_?"

Matthew would have smacked his palm to his face if he hadn't been holding the bear, so he settled on hiding his face in the cub's fur. "Al, watch what you say! Kiku's supposed to be able to help us. I don't want to insult anyone and leave a bad first impression!"

The smaller man, who was indeed Kiku, looked disgruntled but coughed into his hand and let it go for now. "Yes, I am Kiku. This," and he gestured to the taller man behind him, "is Heracles-san. Is there something in particular I can help you with?"

Matthew looked back up and over to Kiku. "Yes, we were attacked earlier this morning by some wolves, and I was bitten. We found this little guy in a trap yesterday, and he could use something for his leg. If you could help, we'd be really thankful."

The medicine man blinked and then gestured to the cloth-covered doorway this time. "Oh, yes, of course. Come this way and have a seat at the table. I'll gather some medicine and bandages that should help with that. I'm glad to hear that all of you are all right though for being attacked by such creatures." He waited until they'd stepped through and headed over to the low-lying table in the room behind the curtain before heading through the other doorway for what he'd need.

Alfred sat down cross-legged and leaned on his elbows against the table while Matthew set the little bear down beside him along the same side before sitting down himself. The younger blond didn't know what to make of the table. "This is so weird. Why's it so low to the floor? I mean I guess it's more comfortable than sitting in a chair, but getting up and down would get kind of annoying after awhile, wouldn't it?"

"You make some of the oddest comments about things, Al... At least Kiku's willing to help us. Would you _kindly _try to not _alienate _anyone else from now on? I don't want to make the wrong person mad at us." He turned to the cub. "It seems like Kiku might have something to help your leg. I'm glad."

The white creature sat up and looked up at Matthew. "So this Kiku is another nice human? I don't know what to make of those two we met in the cart-thing."

Matthew chuckled. "True. Feliciano seems nice enough, but I'm not sure what to make of both of them either. But, yeah, it seems like Kiku is pretty nice too for as much as we've known him anyway."

Kiku soon came back in with a tray holding a couple of jars, some towels, bandages, and a bowl of water. "All right. May I see your arm then... Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know either of your names."

"Oh, no, sorry. We forgot to introduce ourselves. I'm Matthew, and this is my younger brother, Alfred."

Alfred piped up then and leaned further onto the table. "He's only older by a couple of hours though, so it's not like that matters or anything. I'm still more awesome than him."

Matthew gave him a _look_. "..._Really_, Al...? Are you going to do that _every time_ we meet someone here?"

The younger blond stuck out his bottom lip petulantly and looked away from his twin. "Maybe..."

The elder brother sighed and turned back to Kiku. "Sorry about him. He tends to stick his foot in his mouth whenever he opens it." He continued talking as he ignored his now pouting brother and turned fully towards Kiku as the man came around to sit beside him after setting the tray down on the table between them. "It's not that bad actually, but we didn't really have much on us to deal with it, and Feliciano said that he knew someone who could help."

Kiku took the offered left arm and began unwrapping the forearm; he wanted a look at the injury for himself first after washing it clean and patting it dry with some of the clean towels he'd brought in. "Hmm... You're very lucky that it does not seem to be very deep. I have a salve that should help it heal quickly. Just keep the wound and the bandage clean and dry." He opened the larger jar and took some of the pasty ointment in it and spread it over the bite marks on both sides of Matthew's arm. Then taking some of the fresh bandages he wrapped them securely around most of the forearm. "There. That should do for now. Redo this at least twice a day and after any time that it ends up wet or dirty. I'll pack up a couple of jars of the medicine and several clean rolls of bandages for you before you go. Now...you said the little bear needs tending to as well?"

Matthew flexed his arm a little before turning and picking up the white cub and setting him in between the two of them. "Yeah, it's not so bad for being stuck in that trap, but we'd like some better medicine, especially since we don't know if what we have is any good for an animal."

The twins found it a little odd that he didn't seem to find it at all strange to be seeing to a supposedly wild animal, but Kiku just bent forward to start unwrapping the bandage around the cub's legs to look at the injury. He murmured to himself as he worked on dealing with the wound.

All Matthew could make out of what the doctor was saying was what sounded like "kuma" and "jirou," so he decided to ask about what he'd managed to hear. "Kuma...jirou...?"

Kiku looked up at him. "Hmm...? Is that his name?"

Matthew blinked at him. "Well..., no... He doesn't have a name. I thought that's what you said though."

Kiku looked confused for a moment before smiling a little. "Oh, no, you must have heard 'kuma' and 'shiro.' They mean 'bear' and 'white' where I'm from. Though 'Jirou' is a common boy's name where I'm from as well."

"Huh..." Matthew looked down at the little bear. "Kumajirou..."

* * *

About the Italy brothers fighting... I don't want the boys to be cowering weaklings the whole time, so I'll have them helping out in fights from time to time. I leave most of my descriptions of things that happen when I'm focused on other characters open for the reader to interpret what's going on with whom I'm not focusing on at the time how they want though. The same goes with descriptions of what characters are wearing.

So we've reached one of the main settings for this part of the story (I think this will become long enough that I'll need to split it into two, this and a sequel.). I'll introduce more characters next chapter and set Matthew and Al up in town.

The last scene... I knew I wanted that scene or something like it to happen since the general idea for this story came to me. I needed a realistic reason for Matthew to call the bear Kumajirou.


	6. This Calls for a HERO

Author's notes: Adding in more characters as I go. I think I have almost everyone playing some sort of part.

Oh, and Alvarez is Cuba, Chloé is Belgium, and Harriet is Monaco.

Warnings for this chapter: None that I can think of other than Romano's mouth?

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Hetalia. I make no money off of this.

* * *

Chapter 6 : This Calls for a HERO!

After Kiku treated the bear's leg and sent them along their way with a bag full of medicine and bandages for the two of them, Feliciano, who had been waiting out in the main room for them, led them back to the restaurant they'd first stopped at. Through the front door the blond brothers found that most of the front of the first floor was occupied by tables and booths, several of which were full as it was a little after noon by now and the lunch crowd hadn't started tapering off just yet. The brunet led them back to the large kitchen area where they found Romano and another brunet man and a blond woman working and talking.

The man the brothers didn't know yet was the first to notice them and smiled brightly at them. "Ah, hello there. You must be the two who saved my dear little Roma and Feli." He ignored Romano's "I'm not your 'dear little' anything, you asshole!" and walked over to the blond twins and hugged them, though he was mindful of the bear Matthew held, giving it a questioning look before wrapping Matthew in a slightly awkward sideways embrace. "I don't even want to think about what would have happened had you not been there to protect them."

Alfred grinned broadly if not a little smugly and pointed to himself with his thumb as he seemed to usually do when praising himself in one way or another. "It was no problem for a hero like _me_! The wolves didn't stand a chance. I even came out of it with barely a scratch." He didn't notice his brother's glare and the accompanying one from the cub. "Heroes can't just ignore people in trouble! That'd be completely...UNheroic."

The man, who seemed maybe a few years older than both sets of twins, blinked at Alfred before smiling wider than before. "So you two are heroes then?" He turned to the Vargas brothers and the blonde woman. "Should we maybe take them to Francis? If they're heroes, maybe they could–"

Romano interrupted him. "They're not actual 'heroes,' dumbass. Dammit, Antonio, you can't just believe everything that people say, especially _that _one. He's as much of an idiot as you and my brother and at least half of the people in this stupid city."

Antonio frowned at him. "Now, Romano, that's no way to treat the people who helped protect you this morning. To _me _that makes them heroes. And maybe they could help us out with _that_. To be able to fight so many wolves and only come out with some scratches... They might be able to do it."

Matthew was starting to let his curiosity get the better of him. "Do what?"

Feliciano spoke up this time, though his question was directed at Antonio. "Should we take them to Big Brother Francis then? We can talk about it there."

The eldest of the three brunets gathered smiled at him, though it held a little sadness to it. "Why don't you go ahead and take them, Feli. The rest of us need to see to the restaurant, especially since Al's out of commission for awhile. We already had to ask Chloé to take some time away from the inn to help out with the lunch crowd." His smile brightened a little and was almost back to his usual one. "Just let us know how things go, all right?"

Alfred perked up at the mention of this other "Al." "Who's this 'Al' you keep mentioning? My name's Alfred, and Matt calls me 'Al' a lot. I wanna meet this other 'Al.'"

Feliciano looked sad again while Romano and Chloé had turned back to their cooking in the meantime, so the others couldn't make out their expressions. Antonio decided to answer, though with mostly false cheerfulness again. "Oh, really? What a coincidence. Our Al's full name is Alvarez. He normally works here in the restaurant but was hurt badly recently."

Matthew felt bad about that even though he didn't even know the man. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"I'm not _that _hurt, dammit, 'Tonio. I'm tougher than that, and you know it. I can still handle my own here in the kitchen just fine anyway."

The group turned to a set of stairs off in the back corner to find a dark-skinned man who didn't look too much older than either set of twins. He had dark brown hair held back in what looked to be a ponytail but the hair looked like cords or braids. The newcomer hobbled slightly over to them, and Feliciano was quick to go over and try and help him, though Alvarez waved him off with the arm that wasn't in a sling.

Antonio crossed his arms and gave him a slightly put-out sort of look. "Al, I told you Kiku said you need to rest. Go back upstairs and do so. We have things covered down here. You're hardly going to be able to do much with only one free arm anyway."

Alvarez just grunted and gave the other brunet a glare. "I can still cook, even with only one arm. Feli and Romano can deal with serving the food. I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of this."

Antonio looked more angry than anything now. "Oh, I don't know. Could it be because you nearly _died _the other day? I don't know why _you're_ not taking this more seriously."

The blond brothers were starting to wonder what was going on and asked at the same time, "'Died?'"

Antonio seemed to just realize that they were still there and laughed a little nervously. "Oh, well..., that's what you'll talk about with Francis, I'm sure. Feli, why don't you take them over there now then take them over to Roderick and Elizaveta's inn."

"Ve~, ok!" He turned to the blond brothers. "We brought your bags in here. Hold on. Let me get them, and you can take them with you for the inn, since it's sort of over on the other side of town." He ran over to the far corner opposite the stairs and tried to pick up the two packs that rested out of the way of the kitchen traffic areas. They were too heavy for him to lift both though. "Uufff... Um... Maybe you'll want to carry them yourselves since they're yours after all? Ahah..."

Matthew smiled a little and elbowed Alfred who looked at him before realizing what his brother meant after given a small nod of the slightly older one's head towards their packs. "Oh, hahah, right. Hey, Feliciano, I got 'em."

Romano and Chloé were still working on orders, and Alvarez was going to help, but he changed his mind. "Hey, I'm going too."

Antonio was gathering finished dishes to take out and turned back to the other man. "Oh, no, you're not. If you're not going to rest and insist on still helping out here in the kitchen, that's one thing, but I'm not letting you go out and possibly get hurt again."

Alvarez glared at him again. "For the love of... How many times do I have to tell you that I'm fine! And you're not my dad. I'm barely five years younger than you! And it's not like I'm going to go out and try _that _again anyway, at least not anytime soon. I just want to tag along and see what's up."

The elder brunet paused and looked pacified for the moment. "...Fine. Let us know if anything's changed. Roma and Feli had to take the long way around to buy the new inventory, and I hated that no one could go with them. _That's_ starting to become a real problem for travelers..."

Matthew wanted to ask about what was going on again, but he figured they'd be talking about...whatever it was whenever they met this Francis person.

Alfred in the meantime had come back over with their packs and managed to shoulder both of them. "Well, we're good to go whenever you guys are." He walked up to Alvarez and clapped him on the left shoulder – the shoulder of the arm in the sling – earning a wince that went unnoticed. "_Hey_, it's awesome to meet someone else named Al! Ya gotta tell me what happened to ya though. The way those guys were talking and stuff one would expect you to be _dead_!"

He laughed a bit too loudly, especially standing so close to someone else, and spoke nearly just as loudly. It was quickly starting to grate on Alvarez's nerves. He was about to say something when Matthew chose to interrupt and stop his brother from possibly drawing the wrong kind of attention...say...a fist to the face...with his obliviousness. "Should we be going? It would be nice to find a room at the inn. We haven't slept in a nice, clean bed in at least a couple of weeks."

Alvarez looked at Matthew for a moment, wondering if the blond had meant to interrupt his brother like that. He mentally shrugged and decided to let it go for now. "Yeah." He turned back to the others. "Feli can stay here in case you need the help. I can take these guys to see Francis then over to Eliza's place. We should be back in time for dinner I imagine." He turned back to the blond twins. "Well, if you guys want to eat here anyway."

Matthew was a bit afraid of his brother starting up another potential argument already and cut in first, smiling slightly. "Sure. The food here smells wonderful. It will be nice to have a decent meal for a change too. Let's go then, shall we?" and he turned slightly to wait for Alvarez to take the lead since he had no idea where they were going.

The brunet still wasn't sure what to make of the two blonds but turned to the back entrance. "Let's head out this way and out the back. Cutting down the street behind us will be quicker."

* * *

After they made their way out to one of the main streets the twins found that Alvarez seemed to be leading them to the large estate they'd seen when they'd first arrived in town. When they reached the main entrance of the manor they were stopped by a somewhat short blond with green eyes. The boys couldn't tell if the individual was a man or woman with how the person's straight hair fell almost to their shoulders. Either way they were more interested in the odd weapon that was currently pointed right at them.

Alvarez rolled his eyes at the guard. "Vash, put that away. I don't know why you have to point that at anything that moves. What are you even doing here?"

"Oh, shut up. I know _you _of course, but it's not like I know the two with you. I won't take any chances. And you know perfectly well I wouldn't be _here _if I could help it, but the others are stationed elsewhere and I was forced to take this post today." The blond – with that voice the person seemed to be male – lowered the long metal weapon, though he didn't lessen his glare much. "What is your purpose here? I thought you'd be half-dead in a bed somewhere."

"Dammit, I wasn't hurt that badly! And we're here to see Francis about _that _anyway. These two might be able to help." He thumbed over his shoulder at the two behind him.

Vash looked at them again and seemed thoroughly unimpressed. "Right... Whatever... Fine, go in. Harriet should be available at the moment in her office."

"Ah, thanks." He headed inside and down the left hallway of the large entranceway.

Matthew and Alfred followed. The latter was curious about something though and couldn't let it go. "What was that thing that guy was holding? I've never seen something like it before. What does it do? I mean it didn't have a point on it or anything as far as I could tell, so how is it a weapon?"

Alvarez turned back to him with a look like Alfred had grown a second head. "That was a rifle. ...Where are you two from that you don't know what a gun is?"

Matthew felt a little out of place with not knowing what such a weapon was himself and hid a little behind the bear he was still carrying like an oversized toy against his chest. "We're from a ways west from here. A little village... We've never seen something like that before. We're used to swords and bows and such. Are these 'guns' common around here? Well, wait... I guess they would be based on your reaction. Sorry..."

The brunet shook his head and shrugged with the shoulder of his good arm. "Eh, nothing to be sorry for." He rubbed the back of his head a bit in embarrassment. "If anything, I should be saying sorry. Didn't know there were places that didn't know about them. Sort of grew up with them myself. Didn't mean to jump to conclusions. Anyway... Well..., if you want to maybe learn more about them, Vash is the best marksman we have around here, but he's... I'm not too bad with them if I may say so myself, but I'd still go with asking Gilbert. He's not much better in the attitude and personality departments as Vash, but he's nearly just as good as him and will be less likely to threaten shooting you...and possibly going through with it..." He turned forwards again and headed into the first room on the right, knocking on the door before entering. "Hey, Harriet, you in here? It's Al with some people who might be able to help us."

Matthew was starting to feel rather troubled what with these people who kept saying that without even asking the two of them if they wanted to help with _whatever _it was that was troubling them. If it was enough to hurt Alvarez, he wasn't sure he was going to like it much... The man's body looked a bit on the chubby side, but with the way his oddly colored shirt moved over his chest and upper arms Matthew could tell most of that was actually muscle.

A young woman with blond hair and something on her face that the twins didn't recognize looked up from some papers and over to her door. "Oh, Al! What in the world are you doing out of bed? I heard you'd been severely hurt. Really! I don't know about some of you..." She sighed and shook her head. "You said something about people who might be able to help though?" She put her pen down and gestured to the couch along the wall near the desk she was sitting behind.

The trio walked over and sat down on it with Alvarez closest to Harriet and Matthew in between the other two. Alfred didn't mind sitting at the other end; he needed the room to set down both of their packs anyway.

Alvarez spoke up again. "Yeah, these two helped save Feli and Romano from a bunch of wolves this morning and managed to come out of it with barely any damage done. 'Tonio wanted to see if Francis thought that they might be able to help with our problem up north of town."

Harriet looked over at the blond brothers for a moment, not really knowing what to think. "Well..., I can go and bring him in. He should be free at the moment, but one never knows with him." She shared a look with Alvarez who seemed to understand. "Let me go get him, and then we'll talk." With that she stood and headed out of the room and further down the hallway it was located in.

The three sat in silence for a moment before what was happening finally started making Matthew really worry and the situation had finally seemed to really sink into Alfred's head. The younger one managed to speak first, though it was basically the same thought as his brother. "Okay... As much as I want to help people – what with being a hero and all – it would be nice to actually...you know..._know _what we're being asked to do before actually...you know...telling people we'll do it."

The way Alfred worded that aside, Matthew had to agree, though he didn't want to make Alvarez mad or anything so tried somewhat sheepishly to smooth over his brother's choice of words and somewhat sarcastic tone. "Well, I agree, but I suppose this was going to end up happening anyway if you ever caught wind of whatever is going on here, Al."

Alvarez was starting to wonder if these strangers would actually be able to help or not, but it was probably too late to really backtrack now. He then realized he didn't even know the one who held the bear's name. He only knew the other one was referred to as "Al" like he himself was by most people who knew him. "Hey, I never caught your name."

Matthew blinked at him before realizing and would have facepalmed again if he wasn't holding the cub. "Oh, right. Why do I keep doing that..." He shook his head to try and clear it. "My name's Matthew. You already know my brother's sort of." He turned to his brother with a _look_. "Don't." He then turned back to Alvarez. "His name's Alfred, but it's true I normally call him 'Al.'"

Alfred laughed. "Hahah, yeah! We can totally be like...Al-pals or something right? That'd be pretty awesome."

Matthew wanted to punch his brother then ignore they were ever related...

* * *

Harriet (thankfully) came back a few minutes later with a moderately tall man with long wavy blond hair that was pulled back in a loose ponytail.

The newcomer made a bit of a flourish in sitting down in one of the nearby chairs that faced the couch. "Ah~, Al, it's nice to see that you were not as harmed as I was led to believe. You have some possible good news though? Dear Harriet mentioned you'd found us some help? Is it these strapping young men with you?" He gave the brothers appreciative glances. Matthew didn't know if he liked that or not, while the look more or less went by Alfred unnoticed.

"Well, these two helped out Romano and Feli this morning with a bunch of wolves that had attacked them on their way back and came out with barely a scratch. 'Tonio thought they might be able to help us. He thought we should ask you though since you're supposed to be in charge and all."

"...What do you mean 'supposed to be?' You sound like you don't believe that. How sad..." Francis put on a mock pout before turning more serious again. "Hmm... So you two want to help us? Do you think you can?"

Matthew and Alfred both looked at him, then each other, then back to Francis before saying at the same time, "Help with _what_?"

Matthew continued. "Since we arrived people have been mentioning us helping out but no one's said with _what_. What is it that is causing problems north of here?"

Francis gave them a confused look before blinking. "You're here...yet you don't know what you're helping us with?" He shook his head a little. "Anyway... Well..., we have a bit of a...pest problem... How to put this lightly..." He pressed his fingertips together and rested them on his knee that had been crossed over the other.

Matthew's bad feeling from earlier was just getting worse now. Whatever it was had to be put _lightly_?

Francis tipped his head to the side a little and gestured vaguely with one hand. "To the north of town you may have noticed that the terrain starts to become a bit rocky once you leave. If one would follow that path it leads up to one of the easier passes around these parts through the mountains. For a few years now we've had a bit of a problem with a creature terrorizing anyone who passes through the area and comes what it deems is too close to its lair."

Alfred was remaining particularly attentive now that he was hearing what the problem was. "Really? What kind of creature is it? I don't suppose it's another wolf. You said lair but just one creature, and one wolf should be easy enough to kill, right?"

The man across from them shook his head. "No, no, it's not a wolf. It's a..., well..."

Alvarez was starting to grow a bit annoyed at Francis being so overly-dramatic with this. "It's a dragon. You know...one of those big winged lizards that can breath fire. I was trying to escort Feli and Romano when we were attacked. I managed to get them out of there safely, but I got pretty banged up in the process..."

Francis looked a little put out from having his story ruined, but he continued the explanation of the town's problem. "It's been up there for a few years, terrorizing whoever goes that way and comes too close to its precious lair. The attacks were admittedly not so bad in the beginning – just basically roaring and breathing fire at anyone who came too near to try and scare them away – but they're steadily growing into a true problem as it's actually coming out and attacking people anymore. Some of the townspeople have tried to kill it, but none have succeeded yet. It's too dangerous to try and get close enough to try and kill it, and even our guns seem to have no affect on the creature's hide anyway."

Matthew pondered the predicament they were in now and tried not to visibly panic. How were they _possibly _supposed to beat a _dragon_? Especially so if these so called "guns" seemed to be of no use against it even though he got the feeling they were supposed to be this town's strongest weapon. He was about to say that, even though they'd like to help, he had no idea how they would go about fighting such a creature. He'd waited too long though...

"So you need someone to try and kill this creature and save the town and anyone trying to come or go from it? AWESOME! We'll totally do it! A hero like me can't just let this horrible beast terrorize the people anymore! We'll need some weapons and stuff, but leave this to us!" He'd stood up by this point and had taken on a heroic pose.

Matthew gaped at his brother and regretted not punching him sooner. What had he just signed them up for?


	7. New Discoveries

**Author's notes:** I had fun with this chapter. Not sure when the next will be up though.

**Warnings for this chapter: **None that I can think of.

**Standard Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Hetalia. I make no money off of this.

* * *

Chapter 7 : New Discoveries

Francis looked a little shocked at Alfred's display, but it quickly turned into a pleased look. "Really? You think you can help us then? Wonderful! Just let me know what we can do to help you prepare. If you want, some of the town's guards can accompany you to help."

Alvarez was kind of taken aback by Alfred's display as well, but he'd mostly shaken that off. "I was going to take them to Eliza and Roderich's to find a room or two for the night. I can show them to Gilbert and Ludwig's place too. They can help them with weapons and armor."

"Good plan. Still... If there's anything else you need just let me know." Francis then stood and the three did as well. The town leader then clasped Alfred's hand – and would have Matthew's if not for the bear which he sort of wondered about – and led them back out of the room and out the front door where Vash was still standing guard. "Enjoy your stay, boys, and, thank you, for helping us."

* * *

Alvarez led them up one of the northern streets near the center of town to a large five story building. Once through the front doors he walked up to the counter in the lobby area where a woman with long, light brown hair and a man with slicked-back, dark brown hair stood conversing with each other. "Hey, Eliza, got a couple of guys who need a place to stay."

The woman turned to him. "Oh, Al! It's so good to see that you're up and about. I was so worried when I'd heard you were hurt protecting Feli and Romano. Are the three of you doing all right?"

Alvarez looked a little embarrassed but tried to shrug off the attention. "We're all fine. Nothing to worry about. Do you have a room or two free for these two?" He pointed behind him at the blond twins. "They'll be staying in town for awhile. They're going to try and help out with our problem up north."

Matthew spoke up then. "Um, just one room if you have any with two beds. We...might not have enough to pay for two separate rooms."

Elizaveta looked a little scandalized then. "Oh, no, no, dears. If you're going out of your way to help a bunch of people you don't even know with such a problem, I hardly want to charge you for a room. If you want one with two beds though, that's quite all right. Is one on the third floor okay?"

Matthew nodded and smiled. "Yes, that's all right, but it hardly seems fair to not charge us _something _though."

She waved him off. "Nonsense! You'll be staying in one of our best rooms, and that's final."

"A...all right..." He had the feeling he wouldn't be able to persuade her otherwise so chose to drop the subject for now.

Alfred set down their packs for a moment and leaned a bit over the counter towards the man standing beside Elizaveta and pointed at his face. "Hey, what's that on your nose? That Harriet lady had 'em too. I've never seen something like that before."

The man leaned back away from him with an annoyed and slightly confused look on his face. "Would you kindly remove yourself from my personal space and not point so rudely at people? And do you mean my glasses? You've honestly never seen glasses before?"

Alfred leaned back on his side of the desk and smiled. "Nope. What do they do? They don't look like they'd help protect your eyes much."

Roderich sighed. "They don't protect your eyes so much as help you see better if your eyesight is not perfect. Where ever are you from that you have never seen them before?"

Alfred picked their packs back up again. "About three months travel west from here. Man, first those gun things and now glasses? I wonder what other new things we'll see here. Wait... You said they help with eyesight? That's awesome!" He turned to his brother. "Matt, we should totally get some!"

Matthew looked thoughtful for a moment. "While I don't really disagree with that if they'd help, can we get our room first? We can look into these glasses things more later."

Alfred pouted but let it go for now. He wanted to dump their packs in their room as soon as possible anyway and get something to eat soon. "Fine... Fine..."

Elizaveta clapped her hands together, still looking pleased. "All right then." She trotted off to a room right behind the desk and came back out with a pair of keys. "Here you go, boys. Up on the third floor and the last door on the left. It faces north, and the view is lovely since the buildings on that side are all one story. If you need anything, just come down and ask. Roderich, Lena, Chloé, or myself should be here. Off on the right there is a small restaurant where we serve meals, and there's a bar in there too if you care for a drink or some lively conversation." She struck a thoughtful pose. "I believe that's everything, boys. Like I said though, just ask if you need anything." She smiled and waved them off as the three headed upstairs.

* * *

When Alvarez opened the door for them (since both blonds were holding something otherwise) Matthew and Alfred were surprised with the room they'd been given. The room had two windows in the opposite wall from the door, under which both beds had been placed, facing each other. Between them rested a large dresser full of drawers that had a large mirror fixed atop it. To the left of the door was a nice table with chairs for four that was decorated with a lovely vase full of a tasteful arrangement of flowers. To the right rested a couch placed against the same wall as the door and two armchairs facing it with a low-laying table in between the three pieces of furniture. Beyond that were two doors, one of which was a small closet that held extra blankets and pillows, while the other led into a private bathroom complete with a basin, tub, and some contraption neither boy quite knew what it was though it looked like it could be sat upon.

Alfred dumped their packs between their beds. "This room is totally _awesome_! What's with this stuff in the bathroom though? There are twisted pipes pointing into the tub and basin." He poked the one over the sink. "So weird... And what's this other thing? A chair?" He lifted part of it that ended up being the lid. "_Whoa_! What the... There's water in here! What kind of chair is this?"

Matthew had set the bear down on the bed on the right and had joined his brother in browsing the bathroom. "I...don't know... I mean, the pipes probably bring in water, but I don't know what this thing is. There's a chain attached too. Hmm..." He pulled on it, and the water in the 'chair' went down the hole in the bottom of it. Both boys jumped back and let out startled sounds.

Alfred leaned back towards it as the bowl filled with water again. "What the hell? What was that, and where'd the water go, and where'd _this _water come from?"

Alvarez just stood back out in the main room, staring at the two like they had come from another planet.

* * *

After Alvarez had explained the wonders of indoor plumbing, running water, and the miracle of toilets the trio headed back over to Antonio's restaurant for something to eat. The restaurant was mostly empty, but they were interrupted in their conversation when they came through the doors by one of the few still there.

"Hey! Al! Up and about, I see! Kesesese. Knew that attack wouldn't have you down and out for long."

The brunet looked over to one of the booths on the left and the albino and blond seated at it and chuckled. He headed over to the booth and sat down at the table beside it, waving Matthew and Alfred to join him, which they did, Matthew across from Alvarez since he'd set the bear down on the fourth seat at the table. "Heh, yeah, you know me. Hard to kill and all that. What are you two doing here though? Business slow today, Gil?"

"Pff, yeah. Dunno why though. I'd offer to join the guards today, but, eh..." He shrugged and took a long drink of his beer. "Who're the new guys? And what's with the bear?"

Alfred grinned at them and beat his brother to the introductions this time. "I'm Alfred, the awesome hero, and this is my brother Matthew! He's still awesome, but not as much as me. We're staying in town to help out with your dragon problem. ..._Oh_! Hey! Al suggested you to go to about these gun things we saw earlier. Could you teach us about them?"

Gilbert smirked over the rim of his beer before setting it down. "'Awesome hero,' huh? Kesesesese. We'll see. But, sure, I can teach you about guns. You've never learned how to shoot one?"

Matthew waved at Chloé who had come back out to deliver another table's order then turned back to the conversation. "We didn't even know what a gun was before today. We don't have them where we're from back west."

Gilbert sort of gawked at them, and the silent blond with him gave them a bit of a disbelieving look as well. The albino shook his head sadly. "Man... I had no idea there were still places around without them. You guys must live in the middle of nowhere!"

Matthew wilted a little. "So I'm beginning to believe..."

Alfred still seemed pleased with the conversation though. "Well, I guess you could say that. We've seen a lot of stuff today that we've never seen before. It kind of makes me wonder if we really knew much before we left home."

Matthew gave his twin a rather incredulous look. "You're just _now _realizing this?"

Alfred stuck his tongue out at his brother, ignoring the "How mature..." from the elder blond. "Yeah, well..., that's one of the reasons we left on this adventure anyway! Anyway..." He turned back to the others. "Once we get something to eat could you start teaching us about them, Gilbert?"

"Yeah, sure, kid. Don't see why not." He turned to the blond sitting across from him in the booth. "Hey, Lud, you can watch over the place while I teach these two, right? We've barely had anything to do all day anyway."

Ludwig gave his brother an annoyed look and sighed. "It's not that we haven't had anything to do so far today, brother. You're just ignoring what work we _do _have. But, yes, I should be able to finish what's left and handle anything that comes up."

"Awesome. Okay, fellas, let's eat up then go have some fun."

Chloé headed over to the two tables after having delivered another's orders. "So, boys, what would like? The usual for you three?"

Alvarez shrugged her off, saying he'd eaten not too long ago. Ludwig nodded, but Gilbert shook his own head. "Nah, can you guys whip me up a burger this time? I'll probably have the usual for dinner though later."

Alfred and Matthew didn't know what to order, so the former went ahead and asked, "What's a 'burger?'"

* * *

"Oh. My. God... This thing is _amazing_! Just...the meat, and the topping things, and the cheese, and just... Oh my god..." Alfred seemed to be having a religious experience.

Gilbert had told them what a burger was, and the younger twin thought he might as well order one and try it. He did not regret that decision at all.

Matthew in the meantime, while he had no idea what to order himself, had decided he might as well try one too. It was good, but not nearly the orgasm-inducing meal that Alfred seemed to think it was. "Al... I admit it's good, but...people are staring. Stop that..."

"No way, bro. You don't understand. This thing is like a gift from the _gods _or something!"

"Uh huh..."

Chloé laughed lightly as she brought over a refill on their drinks. "I'm glad you're enjoying it. After Gilbert shared how to make it, it's caught on rather well here. Would you like another one?"

"_YE_-"

"Actually, we should probably be going soon. Gilbert was going to start teaching us about guns. I think it's something we'll need to know if we're...going to help with your problem." Matthew's appetite had lessened a bit at being reminded of what they were meant to do.

Alfred felt he could have had at least another five burgers, but his brother had a point. He then remembered a part of the conversation. "Gilbert, you taught them how to make this?" Stars seemed to have appeared in his eyes and around him. "That's so...awesome."

"Kesesese. I can hardly argue with someone calling me awesome, but that's nothing much, kid. We used to have them all of the time back where we're from. When we moved here and I met Antonio and the others I just told them how to make it when I wanted one one day. Anyway... Let's finish up these meals, and we'll head out for some lessons."

* * *

Ludwig and Gilbert's metalwork and weapons shop was located not too far from the restaurant. The group stopped off there to pick up a few different kinds of guns and the necessary ammunition before heading off south of town to an open area that had been set up as a range of sorts for practice.

Matthew set the bear down a ways off from them and waited for Gilbert who was setting out the weapons on one of the long tables in the area.

"Okay, boys, we'll start you off with something small. A revolver can be easily concealed on you and quickly drawn when needed. The bullets aren't as big as other guns of course, but they suffice for most cases." He loaded up one for each of them but wanted to finish his explanation before giving either of them one.

"The basic design for most guns is the same. There's the butt of the gun that is usually just meant for a grip or to hit someone with if it comes to that. Next are the chambers where the bullets are loaded. This," he pointed to the thin piece of metal along the bottom of the barrel, "is the trigger. Once you've aimed that's what you pull to shoot. The long part here is the barrel, which is where the bullet comes out. You don't want your fingers or anything else anywhere near the barrel or the chambers. When a bullet's fired it comes out _fast _and pushes out very hot, very fast air that can take off fingers or at least leave burns. This trigger-like thing on the back is the safety. When it's on the gun won't be able to fire so long as the safety's still functional. Just click it like this to take it off or put it back on." He showed them what he meant then took his gun over to in front of one of the targets set up a ways down the open firing range.

"Okay, have either of you at least used a bow before?" He nodded when he received a "Yes" from both. "Good. Aiming with a gun is sort of similar to that. Since you're first starting off I'd suggest using both hands even with the smaller guns. Now hold it like this," and he held it up with both hands to show them the stance to take, "aim down the barrel, and fire." He shot once at the target tied to the hay bale down at the far side of the range. It hit a little to the right of a bulls-eye. "Hmm... Must be a little out of practice...," he mumbled to himself.

Matthew wondered about that but decided not to comment on it.

Alfred was almost jumping up and down in his excitement over learning how to use such a weapon. "That was totally awesome! Do we get to try now?"

"Calm down, kid. I don't know if I can trust you with a gun if you keep hopping around like that."

"No, no, I'm good. I swear. This is just... It's really exciting learning something new like this. This kind of...reminds me when dad first showed us how to use a bow..." He calmed down and came to a standstill. "You know... We haven't really been gone all _that _long, even if it's our first time actually leaving home, but...I kind of miss it already." He shook his head and put a wide smile back on. "_But_! Learning stuff like this... Meeting people like you guys... I can just tell that this is exactly why we left. I just _know _something amazing's going to happen soon. I can _feel _it."

The other two just quietly looked at him for a moment. Matthew could understand where his brother was coming from though. "I miss mom and dad, but I understand what you mean, Al. It _is _interesting learning so many new things that would never have happened had we stayed back in our little village. The people we've met here have been some of the most interesting so far too." He chuckled lightly. "This is just a lot of new things to take in at once, I guess. It's not a bad thing though. So far I can't really say I regret going on this journey."

Gilbert studied the two blonds for a moment longer before letting out a small laugh. "Well, you two certainly are different. I think you'll fit right in around here. So you ready to try? Who's going first?"

"Oh, me! _Me_!" Alfred waved his hand around in the air.

"There you go again, kid. What did I just say about that?"

"Oh, right... Sorry..." He forced himself to calm down. "Can I try first though? Matt?" He looked to his brother to see if he wanted to go first instead.

"I don't mind either way. Go ahead, Al."

"_Yes_!"

"Okay, okay. Hold on. Come up here." Gilbert waved Alfred over to where he'd been standing and gave him the gun, though he'd put the safety back on for now. "Now stand like I did, all right?"

"Okay. Like this, right?" He held up the gun in both hands and spread his feet like he remembered the other doing.

"Yeah, but hold on." Gilbert leveled Alfred's hands a bit and shifted his feet a little before standing back behind him again. "Okay. Aim carefully first, but don't fire. The safety's still on."

"Aim. Right. Okay..." He aimed his sight down the barrel like he would an arrow, but he had a hard time fully focusing on the target in front of him. It was a bit blurry. He blinked, squinted, and tried to focus better. It still wasn't helping much, but he thought he could do all right for his first shot. "Okay, can I take the safety off?"

"If you think you have your target set, go ahead. Then aim again and try a shot."

"Okay." He clicked the safety off like he'd seen Gilbert do and took aim again. When he thought he had the center of the target in his sight he fired.

It sailed over the top of the target but luckily slammed into the trunk of a tree a ways behind it. Gilbert expected something like that to happen, but it made the twins jump.

"Oh, crap! I thought I had aimed right. Um... Maybe I should try again? It was my first shot and all..."

Gilbert raised an eyebrow at him but shrugged. "Sure. You have five more bullets in that gun. Try again, kid."

"Okay. Okay, I can do this." He took a deep breath, let it out, and aimed again.

It slammed into the ground in front of the target.

"Damn!"

"Try again."

"Yeah, okay."

This one managed to nick the side of the target to the right of the one he was actually supposed to be aiming at.

"What the...?"

"Try again..."

"Okay, I'm totally going to hit it this time."

This one joined the first one in the tree beyond the court.

"Crap!"

* * *

They continued on like that until Alfred had run through at least another dozen shots.

Matthew was starting to think it was something other than his brother not being able to aim properly. He'd always been able to with a bow until... "Al... Why didn't you say that your eyesight wasn't allowing you to aim properly...?" How had he forgotten about that? How had _both _of them forgotten about their eyesight? Damn his random scatterbrained moments!

Alfred lowered the gun and laughed nervously. "What...what makes you think that's what's happening?"

"Al..."

"..._Okay_! Okay, yeah... It's all blurry... I can't aim properly..."

"You _idiot_! Why didn't you tell me you had eye problems?" Gilbert took the gun from him and smacked him in the back of the head.

"_Ow_! Well, I didn't know it was going to be such a problem!" He rubbed the back of his head. "I can still aim with a bow just fine."

"No, you can't."

"Shut up, Matt."

Gilbert put the safety back on and rubbed at his eyes like he had a headache...which was likely going to actually happen soon at the rate they were going. "If you're eyesight's so crappy, kid, why don't you have glasses?"

"Well, we don't have those where we're from either. The first time we saw them was on Harriet and Roderich."

"I don't suppose you need them too then, Matt?"

"Oh, well..., maybe... I...have trouble seeing things up close and focusing on things for too long..."

"Great... _Why _didn't either of you mention that before we started?"

Alfred puffed out his cheeks in annoyance. "Why didn't _you _think to ask us?"

"That's true. You could have."

"Don't gang up on me. How the hell was I supposed to know you two can't focus worth a damn?"

Alfred turned to fully face Gilbert so he could glare at him properly. "Hey, shut up! Matt and I are new to this, okay?" His expression lightened. "Are you saying we can get glasses though?"

"Yeah, I know a guy who sells them. Sells pretty much anything really..."


End file.
